Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do what good do? They's
Speaker 1: getting down to do it? Good do it? We asked
Speaker 1: the questions you always want to know, but no one
Speaker 1: ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard him
Speaker 1: about it? Then we're about to let you know. It's
Speaker 1: all okay, shoot the way, that's your first Sorry, smitty smitty, smittye,
Speaker 1: what's going on with him? And Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 1: How's your weekend? It was pretty good. It wasn't as
Speaker 1: good as yours, but it was pretty good. You went
Speaker 1: up to the mounds with the wife and had a
Speaker 1: little little little little boot time, little boot r R. Yeah,
Speaker 1: kid free, that's the that's the most important. Tell you
Speaker 1: what a kid free are? And R makes another kid
Speaker 1: on the way come that ain't that ain't happen in
Speaker 1: my g How was your weekend? What'd you get into? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I went down, you know, I just trying to with
Speaker 1: everything going on. I'm still a little nervous hop on
Speaker 1: the airplane. Yeah, just be honest. You don't call me
Speaker 1: what you want. Uh, I called you something. I'd call
Speaker 1: myself that because I'm not getting on just a little nervous.
Speaker 1: And so I went down, drove down the Kiowa and
Speaker 1: and play some golf. Played a course it's called the
Speaker 1: Ocean's Course is actually where um uh the I think
Speaker 1: it's the Open US Open that that that's the best
Speaker 1: part about me. I can go somewhere play means a
Speaker 1: lot to somebody else. It's just a golf course. It's
Speaker 1: just right. It's not just a golf course. It was
Speaker 1: a time for me to just kind of unplug and
Speaker 1: change the scenery. So when played this this course, the
Speaker 1: Ocean Course in Kiowa, and had an unbelievable hattie. So
Speaker 1: you have to do a caddy, have to have it
Speaker 1: was walking man. And so, um, I'm a golf cart
Speaker 1: dude myself. Yeah, you the only the only way, I
Speaker 1: guess if it was bad weather or you have a disability,
Speaker 1: you do to do the golf card. And so we
Speaker 1: walked and my caddy was Tyler. Tyler was fired. Tyler
Speaker 1: was awesome. Helped me out end up shooting the eighty five,
Speaker 1: probably my best round ever. Just and but it's cool
Speaker 1: about it. I'm a city boy. I ain't never seen
Speaker 1: a gator walking across a fairway. I'm from the country.
Speaker 1: I ain't never seen a gator doing that. It was
Speaker 1: it was casually strolling across the the golf off the green,
Speaker 1: kind of like seeing a squirrel on the side of
Speaker 1: the road going up a tree. So he just mind
Speaker 1: and this this is like a real live gator. It
Speaker 1: was probably about ten ninet just strolling across. I got
Speaker 1: videos your first reaction. I was like, oh look, I'm like,
Speaker 1: come on, man, like what we're supposed to do. It
Speaker 1: was pretty bad. Like I wasn't I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: because he was far enough. I wasn't scared, because because
Speaker 1: I can outrun him. Because I was gonna say, it
Speaker 1: ain't every day that brothers just run up on an
Speaker 1: alligator like that. Don't just happen every Let me rephrase it.
Speaker 1: You know why I wasn't scared, because all I had
Speaker 1: to do was I'll run. Tyler asked, that's it, and
Speaker 1: I was gonna get him something or Tyler, bless you, Tyler.
Speaker 1: Tyler got to go. He Tyler wasn't married because he
Speaker 1: told me, but tell my wife that I love her
Speaker 1: because Tyler, I have a shot the food, right, so
Speaker 1: I hit um and then I hit you know, hid
Speaker 1: into a few uh water hazards and hey we all
Speaker 1: do we do gator chomping at the up at the
Speaker 1: so you get into the water and you see the
Speaker 1: gator come out of the water and it was like,
Speaker 1: oh okay, ball gone right. That was probably I heard
Speaker 1: some bad shots, hed some good shots, but it was
Speaker 1: literally that was when your ball went into a hazard
Speaker 1: or and actually there there's no o b u huh
Speaker 1: you your ball going too a little area. Some woods
Speaker 1: chalked that up to the game because they were like
Speaker 1: grass laid down so you can see where they were
Speaker 1: going in. Man, it was it was interesting, bro. It
Speaker 1: was definitely had a good time, but it was very
Speaker 1: much um different kind of golf, but great course, man,
Speaker 1: great on the course. Though. I still can't get over that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just can't imagine like I hit into
Speaker 1: the bunker, I'll go into the bunk and then bam,
Speaker 1: that goes that goes a gator. Yeah, walked looked at me.
Speaker 1: What upset? What was popping home? Nothing? All right? Well,
Speaker 1: hey who is our g all right? Coming up on
Speaker 1: the Cut to It podcast. We've got Chase Elliott, the
Speaker 1: son of NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Bill Elliott.
Speaker 1: He's a two time most Popular Driver of the Year
Speaker 1: and he won the All Star Race in July. Chase
Speaker 1: Elliott appreciate y'all having me, absolutely absolutely so. Our first
Speaker 1: segment we call it get iced Up, the random questions.
Speaker 1: There may be a follow up, may not be a
Speaker 1: follow up, just depends on how we feel. Brother, So Smitty,
Speaker 1: when you're ready, give Chase the first question and get
Speaker 1: iced up? Okay, Chase, are you ready to get iced up?
Speaker 1: I guess I'm ready? However, Man, what color childhood bedroom?
Speaker 1: What color was my childhood bedroom? Man, I don't remember
Speaker 1: my childhood bedroom. Is it that bad? I mean that's
Speaker 1: your childhood that's not arms? Yeah, I mean that's that's true.
Speaker 1: Uh Like it was red blue, like somewhere into into
Speaker 1: the red and blue category, somewhere in there. Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna I can't go a get your childhood colors.
Speaker 1: I mean no, I mean, I don't don't know how
Speaker 1: a man could ever go against another person's childhood memories.
Speaker 1: You know, if you said it was if you said
Speaker 1: it was like a nice rolls. Yeah. Like if it
Speaker 1: was like like magenta, it might be a problem. Like
Speaker 1: my bedroom was magenta at at five, we might have
Speaker 1: an issue? Or do Brown? That is true, Dookie Brown,
Speaker 1: the uncle Luke Row. Okay, let's go. Let's move on.
Speaker 1: So I have heard word on the street. Is you
Speaker 1: love Wedding Crashers? Big fan? Big? All right? Hit us
Speaker 1: with one of your favorite lines from Wedding Crashers. Bang, go,
Speaker 1: favorite line from Wedding Crashes. That's like asking somebody to
Speaker 1: pick one favorite song. Um, it's just pick a line. Okay. Uh,
Speaker 1: let's see that. There's a part where Vince Vaughan is
Speaker 1: talking about what's what's the guy's name, the older father
Speaker 1: in that in that movie, he's like a senator or something.
Speaker 1: This is your favorite movie, not mine, You've never talking about.
Speaker 1: You're talking about. I know he's given him a hard
Speaker 1: time about his daughter, you know, and he tells him,
Speaker 1: you know, she's not just a notch in the old belt.
Speaker 1: He looks at him and he says, I don't even
Speaker 1: wear a belt belt. I love that. What is something
Speaker 1: interesting about you that most people do not know? I have?
Speaker 1: I have become quite the video game fan, which a
Speaker 1: lot of people might know that. But um, now, but
Speaker 1: that's kind of a I've always played video games, but
Speaker 1: since all this stuff has been going on, I have
Speaker 1: I have really jumped in and probably played entirely too
Speaker 1: much video games in the past six months. So I'll
Speaker 1: go ahead and be honest on that. What's what are
Speaker 1: some of those games that you have wasted countless hours on?
Speaker 1: Countless hours? Yes, wasted is also a good a good word, um,
Speaker 1: call of duty, which I think is is yeah, absolutely
Speaker 1: fun like video games are you know, you talk about
Speaker 1: your childhood and stuff, like your parents just absolutely look
Speaker 1: down on video games so bad as a kid, right,
Speaker 1: you know, like what you're doing waste your time? And
Speaker 1: now I feel like it's funny because it seems like
Speaker 1: the amount of people who play video games that AIDS
Speaker 1: bracket is a much larger bracket of people than it
Speaker 1: used to be. Like older guys, I feel like, are
Speaker 1: into video games more so than than they used to be. So, um,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed it. But been a lot of fun
Speaker 1: and and yeah, a good way to stay at home,
Speaker 1: you know, and still get online and play with your
Speaker 1: buddies and and hang out. So I've, I've that's been
Speaker 1: a good outlet for me. If you had a magic wand,
Speaker 1: what would you happen? What would I make happen? How well?
Speaker 1: How often can I use? It is your wand? Brother,
Speaker 1: I can't do I can't tell you what to do
Speaker 1: what you want, it's my wand. Man, that's tough. Um
Speaker 1: I feel like I I mean, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: things that I feel like a person would do for
Speaker 1: a wand, but you know, I might hold hold up
Speaker 1: not do for the one you already have, the one
Speaker 1: you can fix something because you don't about to go
Speaker 1: down the path that I think was I'm getting uncomfortable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I was gonna wait three years and then foul charge
Speaker 1: and say I was not feeling very comfortable in this
Speaker 1: kind uncomfortable today on this podcast. Um Man, that's that's tough.
Speaker 1: I I feel like, you know, how about make your
Speaker 1: car faster? Yeah? Well, I think it would depend. I
Speaker 1: mean that's what I'm saying. Like, if it's race day,
Speaker 1: absolutely we're going faster. So you know, if it's if
Speaker 1: it's across country road trip, like I want to get
Speaker 1: there now, I don't want to You went out, you
Speaker 1: went down the path of what would I do for
Speaker 1: a one already got it? No, no, no, I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to think through what I do, you know, And
Speaker 1: I feel like that's a that's a tough thing. I
Speaker 1: feel like it's situational. I mean, if it's my one
Speaker 1: and I get to keep it, which he sounded like
Speaker 1: you just just you're just holding for a few hours.
Speaker 1: Oh well then I'm gonna I'm gonna gift myself more
Speaker 1: wanes to do that. Can't do that? Why not wishes
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. Well, let's move on. Then, let's move on.
Speaker 1: So you go by Chase, I do. How did your
Speaker 1: folks come up with that nickname? That's a good question. Um,
Speaker 1: so my my godparents when I was little. Basically, I
Speaker 1: guess after I was born. At least the story I got,
Speaker 1: I don't really remember it, but um the story I
Speaker 1: got was that I was you know, my real name
Speaker 1: is after my dad. I'm I'm just the second, um
Speaker 1: William Elliott, the second. But she just didn't think. She
Speaker 1: just didn't think I looked like a William. So I
Speaker 1: ended up She's like, you know, he looks like Chase,
Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, that stuck, and I don't. I
Speaker 1: don't know why, but that was a story I got
Speaker 1: that could be complete bs um, but that's the story
Speaker 1: I was told at one point in time. So I've
Speaker 1: just kind of gone with that. At this point, we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk it into reality. Okay, I like it. So
Speaker 1: you're from Dawsonville, Georgia. Yeah, that's your hometown it is.
Speaker 1: Can you walk us down memory lane? What experience experiences
Speaker 1: you had growing up in Dawsonville, Georgia. And I feel
Speaker 1: like it's uh small town USA. I mean I feel like, uh,
Speaker 1: we've lived in in a couple of different actually a
Speaker 1: few different towns around North Georgia, but pretty much lived
Speaker 1: in North Georgia all my life minus minus a couple
Speaker 1: of years. We um my, my dad wanted to move
Speaker 1: to Colorado. There at one point when I was about
Speaker 1: about nine, I guess nine or ten. We lived there
Speaker 1: for two years. But outside of those two years, um, heck,
Speaker 1: we've we've kind of lived all around North Georgia, And
Speaker 1: I feel like my childhood is kind of a combination
Speaker 1: of a few different towns around here. Dawsonville is certainly
Speaker 1: being one of them, and certainly where I live now
Speaker 1: just small town in USA. How many stoplights in your hometown?
Speaker 1: The original part of Dawsonville. There is no stoplight in town. None,
Speaker 1: you have you might have a stop sign, I mean
Speaker 1: you know, um, the red one. You have one of
Speaker 1: those else would it be right? But yeah, a lot
Speaker 1: of yielding. Let's stop. We'll see. Dawsonville has grown a
Speaker 1: lot in Atlanta. Uh, those of you that have been
Speaker 1: to Atlanta, Atlanta has just absolutely blown up to the
Speaker 1: north side of the state. Um, and Dawsonville is like
Speaker 1: the very north end of the highway that runs into Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Four is the is the road. And as as Atlanta
Speaker 1: has expanded, the south side of Dawsonville has expanded. The
Speaker 1: actual downtown part of the you know, in the city limits.
Speaker 1: You're not talking much. You're talking a stop sign and
Speaker 1: a you know, and that's really about it. A couple
Speaker 1: of restaurants and and a grocery store and and that's
Speaker 1: all she wrote. But it's uh, it's ground a lot
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. And there's something are you proud of,
Speaker 1: you know, looking at you know, obviously looking at your
Speaker 1: dad's stuff, Elliott family, you know that Dawsonville is very
Speaker 1: much connected to you. Guys, and so, how's your hometown
Speaker 1: impacted and shaped you on your world views today? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's a great question because I feel
Speaker 1: everybody's views can vary based on where you grow up.
Speaker 1: And sometimes that's not you know, a person's it might
Speaker 1: not be a person's choice, but it's it's what you
Speaker 1: it's what you have, it's what you see, it's the
Speaker 1: views you have put in front of you as a kid.
Speaker 1: Uh So, I think for me, it's a very um
Speaker 1: you know, and in some ways when when you look
Speaker 1: at it from like, hey, you know, I'm I'm from
Speaker 1: North Georgia and it is small town, USA, I feel
Speaker 1: like it is a very standard southern state town and
Speaker 1: and on down the road. But I think what has
Speaker 1: made my life a little more interesting. I feel like
Speaker 1: I have been connected with a lot of different people
Speaker 1: and a lot of different walks of life. Um from
Speaker 1: you know, following my dad around as a kid, racing
Speaker 1: and being able to travel the country now, and and
Speaker 1: the things I was able to see growing up and
Speaker 1: see the fortune that some people have and the mis
Speaker 1: fortunate to other people have. I feel like there's just
Speaker 1: been a very wide variety of people that I've been
Speaker 1: connected with UM, and I think a lot of that
Speaker 1: is you know, obviously I was fortunate to be able
Speaker 1: to see a lot of those things. But it certainly
Speaker 1: makes you appreciate, I think, what you have a little more.
Speaker 1: And and um, I don't really know how else I
Speaker 1: would have seen that had I not had the opportunities
Speaker 1: to to branch out um and and see more, you know,
Speaker 1: from like I often think, you know, my I grew
Speaker 1: up in a in a well off family, right, so
Speaker 1: you could easily you know, go down the private school
Speaker 1: route and and be kinda viewed as as that uh
Speaker 1: in in some ways, but I don't think that tells
Speaker 1: the full story of some people. And and because I
Speaker 1: am a private school kid, um, of what you see
Speaker 1: and what you do or what you don't appreciate. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I've just been lucky to see a lot of different
Speaker 1: walks and and I feel like appreciate, I appreciate more
Speaker 1: because of it. Because of your dad, you get a
Speaker 1: lot of people that have their, uh their point of
Speaker 1: view of you. But also as I was digging through
Speaker 1: the research and just kind of looking and trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, you know, what is something that's really intriguing.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that keeps coming back to me,
Speaker 1: which is knowing who your dad is, Bill Elliott, and
Speaker 1: then you're twenty four years old, you're doing your thing
Speaker 1: in NASCAR. If you can compare the two growing up
Speaker 1: being well off and having success, your dad having success
Speaker 1: in NASCAR, seeing the difference of how you know, not
Speaker 1: to travel because you're a young kid, but how the
Speaker 1: sport has evolved, you know, financially, and just how things
Speaker 1: go on compared to when your dad was killing it.
Speaker 1: And now you're in a sport being extremely successful. But
Speaker 1: it it definitely the venue and the and and the
Speaker 1: the races are a complete event. Now that's another great
Speaker 1: point because you know, obviously my my dad and I
Speaker 1: have have similarities, but you know, the I feel like
Speaker 1: the the way that we have, the way he grew
Speaker 1: up when he was a kid, and the way that
Speaker 1: I have grown up are certainly very different. I Mean,
Speaker 1: they didn't have much um as a kid. You know,
Speaker 1: he he and his brothers and and his dad. Uh,
Speaker 1: they you know pretty much did it all um. And
Speaker 1: NASCAR was at a place to where they could you know,
Speaker 1: build cars on their own and they could go to
Speaker 1: the junkyard down the road and and cut parts and
Speaker 1: pieces off of an old wrecked car that was driving
Speaker 1: on the street and go build a race car with it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know. And and as time evolved, obviously NASCAR grew. Uh.
Speaker 1: Dad had a long career and and was able to
Speaker 1: you know, have success over over a long period of time.
Speaker 1: So um, I'm not sure there's many generations that have
Speaker 1: seen as much change as what he had. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's he was born in fifty five, Um, so from
Speaker 1: fifty five nine too, you know, and to still kind
Speaker 1: of to see the NASCAR world evolved through that, I'm
Speaker 1: not sure anybody will ever see uh that much change
Speaker 1: ever again, which I think is really awesome. I mean
Speaker 1: I feel like that have to be a great privilege,
Speaker 1: uh to to have seen that. But yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: from from my end, I had a much different walk.
Speaker 1: I mean he um, his success, uh you know provided
Speaker 1: a very a very fortunate childhood for me. What age
Speaker 1: did you start driving a car? Seven? Eight? Yeah? I was,
Speaker 1: I was seven, I mean, and even from that's a
Speaker 1: good point because you know, even even from what I know,
Speaker 1: I want to so yeah, Rostonfield, they got moo shine
Speaker 1: and driving at seven years old. Come on, dog, that's right.
Speaker 1: You gotta see it to believe it, I guess, I guess. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but now there's I mean that that's pretty common. Is
Speaker 1: as not as crazy as it might seem, I guess too,
Speaker 1: um to you guys. But yeah, racing go karts and
Speaker 1: and there's a car called quarter midgets and um and
Speaker 1: things that that you can get into. A quarter midget
Speaker 1: is a much quarter size of a bigger car that
Speaker 1: you can step into down the road. Um. But yeah,
Speaker 1: the kids at five, six, seven years old racing, you
Speaker 1: know what's at that point? I mean, obviously it's not serious.
Speaker 1: I mean it serious though, because they're behind the gas pedal.
Speaker 1: That's that's I guess. I guess relatively, you know, as
Speaker 1: as the you know, when that's serious. To me here,
Speaker 1: I am thinking I'm doing something to carouen just being
Speaker 1: behind bumper cars. Yea. How fast do these quarter mids
Speaker 1: it go? I mean they're they're not very fast. I
Speaker 1: mean probably you know, forty miles an hour or thirty
Speaker 1: he was gonna be relative. You were seven years old
Speaker 1: going forty miles an hour like that to get your
Speaker 1: right in the school zone. You thought you thought you
Speaker 1: were flying, for sure, you thought you were hauling the
Speaker 1: mail back back then, hearing just a little bit of
Speaker 1: your voice not talking about William. Yeah, how do you
Speaker 1: as an old school you seem you don't seem like
Speaker 1: the time out generation. You seem like yo pop used
Speaker 1: to use that belt, right, you just switch? So how
Speaker 1: how does an old school, legacy family business, second generation driver,
Speaker 1: how do they really see the eye racers or some
Speaker 1: of the racers who they're getting into racing virtually where
Speaker 1: you were pushing the car up the hill down the hill.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm I and I'm just I'm I'm being ignorant.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna say you're driving without gas, you know,
Speaker 1: all of that stuff, you know, getting becoming really um
Speaker 1: a student of your car versus a student of the technology. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it's a good point because you know, I
Speaker 1: do feel like, uh with you know, my my family
Speaker 1: and kind of how I was raised around the racetrack. Uh,
Speaker 1: I was, you know, kind of pushed to be more
Speaker 1: hands on. Now I'm not sitting here trying to tell
Speaker 1: you I didn't have nothing, and I do feel like
Speaker 1: I was kinda fortunate in a new school world to
Speaker 1: have been around a lot of old school racers in
Speaker 1: in a modern time, um, and I'm very thankful for that.
Speaker 1: I think I learned a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: great things, right. And and to your point, you have
Speaker 1: some of these guys coming in who are who are good? Dude.
Speaker 1: But I do think that, uh, it made something. It's
Speaker 1: gonna rub some people the wrong way, UM to think that.
Speaker 1: You know, hey, this guy played video games and now
Speaker 1: he's getting opportunities at a high level. And I've been
Speaker 1: down here grinding at the short track level. Why and
Speaker 1: I've spent all this money? Why? Why is that? Why?
Speaker 1: How is that fair? Um? And and lifeetting fair? I
Speaker 1: guess uh in in general, but it is such a
Speaker 1: different it's at such a different time. But I tried
Speaker 1: really hard to keep things simple. I try really hard
Speaker 1: to uh have a bit of a I guess old
Speaker 1: school mindset and approach in in some ways, uh in
Speaker 1: a in a modern time can be can be tough,
Speaker 1: and some people might not like that, UM, but I
Speaker 1: feel like that I've just tried to earn the respect
Speaker 1: of my competitors and my peers. And most of those
Speaker 1: people around you are much older than than you. When
Speaker 1: when when you come along, when when I came along,
Speaker 1: and I feel like I've grown up around people who
Speaker 1: are way, way way older than me. We have to
Speaker 1: take a break and more than anything, we gotta pay
Speaker 1: some bish. You get checked. I love cut to It
Speaker 1: and I love it even more when you download us
Speaker 1: and subscribe and you can follow us on social media
Speaker 1: to Smithie where where at? That's at? Cut to It
Speaker 1: on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook?
Speaker 1: Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
Speaker 1: all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my
Speaker 1: questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast dot com. With growing up always exposed
Speaker 1: being around NASCAR, was there ever a point where you
Speaker 1: were turned off by it? Or maybe you didn't want
Speaker 1: to go into the quote unquote family business you know
Speaker 1: to be To be honest, I really always wanted to
Speaker 1: raise I mean I can't really think of a time
Speaker 1: that that I didn't want to do it. Um, when
Speaker 1: I first got started, you know, Obviously I was young,
Speaker 1: so at that point I knew it was more of
Speaker 1: out of a hobby thing. When I got to be
Speaker 1: and y'all are gonna think this is stupid too, But
Speaker 1: when I got to be about twelve or thirteen, I
Speaker 1: got into full sized cars, um and started to race.
Speaker 1: And at that point, you know, yes, I was still young.
Speaker 1: Uh that I know everything. No, Uh that I think
Speaker 1: I did some days, yes, but uh, you know, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I could tell um that
Speaker 1: things were getting serious and there was money being spent sponsors,
Speaker 1: you know, paying money to be on our car, and
Speaker 1: and you know, obviously we were putting a lot of
Speaker 1: effort into it. And I feel like I kind of
Speaker 1: came to this crossroads of like, hey, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot going into this. I either need to really
Speaker 1: get serious and and uh go after this, or I
Speaker 1: need to not and not waste everyone's time him and
Speaker 1: go enjoy being a teenager. Um. And I do feel
Speaker 1: like I kind of came to those crossroads and where
Speaker 1: there weekends or my friends were at prom or or
Speaker 1: at you know, middle school dances, and I wish I
Speaker 1: was there a little bit. Yeah, absolutely, But at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, I reminded myself that, man, I'm
Speaker 1: getting to do things that that you know, although the
Speaker 1: other kids don't understand it. Um, I'm getting to do
Speaker 1: things that some people could only dream of. And I
Speaker 1: just always kind of kept that in mind. And my
Speaker 1: dad had always told me, Hey, I can only get
Speaker 1: you so far, um in this deal. And you know,
Speaker 1: we either if we're good enough and we've run good enough,
Speaker 1: opportunities may come along. And if if we don't, then
Speaker 1: hey we're gonna we can go do something else. And
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna be mad at anybody for for any of it.
Speaker 1: And he's always given me an out. You know. He
Speaker 1: never never pushed me to want to to want to
Speaker 1: race it. He always left it up to me. If
Speaker 1: I went home, you know, if I went over to
Speaker 1: his house today and said, hey, I'm done, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't want to do this anymore, there would be
Speaker 1: no no hard feelings about it. And that was always
Speaker 1: made very clear. Who was Bill Elliott in your eyes?
Speaker 1: I mean, just Dad's me, you know, Uh, I mean
Speaker 1: he's just been, uh that father figure that you know,
Speaker 1: I've been fortunate to have. And and I don't I
Speaker 1: don't take that for granted. Um, but yeah, just just dad.
Speaker 1: I mean it really is as simple as that. I mean, Um,
Speaker 1: you know, his work ethic I think is incredible. I mean, heck,
Speaker 1: he's sixty five fixing to B sixty six and he
Speaker 1: has more energy uh and and works harder than about
Speaker 1: anybody I know. He doesn't quit. So, UM, I feel
Speaker 1: like just is uh those lessons that you learn and
Speaker 1: and not And I feel like it's people like him,
Speaker 1: you know, that work hard, that you really learned by example.
Speaker 1: He's not the kind of dad who is gonna sit
Speaker 1: down and tell you this one line of wisdom that's
Speaker 1: gonna just change your life. Um. I've never really been
Speaker 1: that way. I'm not. I'm not sure why, but I've
Speaker 1: been more of a learn from example kind of person. Um.
Speaker 1: And I think that there's a lot of qualities there
Speaker 1: and in that that, Uh, you have been fortunate to
Speaker 1: to watch and and see over the years when you
Speaker 1: were watching your dad race and that's all you knew.
Speaker 1: Where did you watch he's racing on the weekend in
Speaker 1: the Friday afternoon before you were learning math? Right, So
Speaker 1: where were you sitting? You know? How did it just
Speaker 1: take us through what was it like for Chase Elliott
Speaker 1: to watch and I'm gonna use a word that I
Speaker 1: like to use this, what did you get to watch
Speaker 1: your pop do his do his job? I had about
Speaker 1: a as much of a front row seat as you
Speaker 1: could have. I mean as a kid, I don't ever
Speaker 1: remember watching in the stands or like in a suite
Speaker 1: or anything. I felt like I was always in the
Speaker 1: garage during the race weekend, or on the pit box
Speaker 1: or somewhere in the pits during during the races. Um.
Speaker 1: So I had about as much of a front row
Speaker 1: view as as you could possibly get. UM. And I
Speaker 1: didn't get to go to all of them, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously that that school thing. When I could go and
Speaker 1: they would let me go, I remember just being right
Speaker 1: there and in the middle of them. It wasn't like
Speaker 1: I was working on a car, but you know, I
Speaker 1: remember just being right there, um, in the heart of
Speaker 1: of what he had going on. And you know, I
Speaker 1: just remembered it was such a spectacle, right and and
Speaker 1: obviously NASCAR has has changed over the years, but you know,
Speaker 1: when I was little, my goodness, I mean, it was
Speaker 1: like the thing and there was just in my eyes
Speaker 1: there was nothing else, not nothing else that mattered. You know,
Speaker 1: my dad was one of the stars of the show,
Speaker 1: and I just thought that that was just the absolute
Speaker 1: coolest thing ever. Those moments were the ones that I'm like, dang, like,
Speaker 1: I want to do that. We kind of segment called
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Let's talk about and your ball happens
Speaker 1: to be the car. So take us through how many
Speaker 1: people are on your roster for NASCAR? Because in talking
Speaker 1: ball in Nascar, I'm Captain dumb dumb, so I need you.
Speaker 1: I'm the co pilot, You the co pilot. I need
Speaker 1: some help in understanding and I'm okay with you knowing
Speaker 1: that I'm Captain dumb dumb and just kind of dumbing
Speaker 1: it down for us to really let us know what
Speaker 1: the ins and out of NASCAR, because I dislike people
Speaker 1: who act like they know the sport and then you
Speaker 1: know they're they're telling you stuff and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: fake strategy, yeah, and then you walk away and go,
Speaker 1: I had no idea what he was talking about. No,
Speaker 1: I mean, I get the for sure, and I feel
Speaker 1: like there's you know, I feel like a lot of
Speaker 1: people don't understand all of the inner workings that that
Speaker 1: make racing kind of go. But I guess to simplify things,
Speaker 1: there's about fifteen guys UM that travel per car every weekend,
Speaker 1: so about I would say nine of those are uh,
Speaker 1: guys who work on the car, so you know, mechanics, um, engineers,
Speaker 1: things of that nature, that that that you know, put
Speaker 1: their hands on the car to work it and try
Speaker 1: to make it go faster. Now you know we have
Speaker 1: this in sports and in life. You know, you guys,
Speaker 1: you got fifteen guys, but you've got some guys you
Speaker 1: know damn well, you don't want them touching nothing. Well, well,
Speaker 1: and and let me let me finish the real it'll
Speaker 1: it'll make more sense. So you have those guys, right,
Speaker 1: and those are the one you know, those are really
Speaker 1: the guys who who make things go at the trap.
Speaker 1: And then you have the five or six. The rules
Speaker 1: have kind of buried that and they're they're limiting the
Speaker 1: amount of pickure members you can have UM. But now
Speaker 1: you have the rest of that is your pit crew
Speaker 1: members who performed pit stops. You got fifth team, Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you have I think I think now there are
Speaker 1: five members of of the guys who go over the wall,
Speaker 1: there's five people who go over the wall to circa.
Speaker 1: So I'm just gonna ask a dumb one is the
Speaker 1: gas of guy? Do you guys you try out for that?
Speaker 1: Do you go to school for that? Or do you
Speaker 1: How do I fill that out on a job application.
Speaker 1: I don't do tires, I don't do breaks, but they
Speaker 1: look for a lot of athletes, though I know I
Speaker 1: just want to do Yeah. I wasn't gonna say yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, Yeah, this is where I'm going with this because, uh,
Speaker 1: those those six guys, five or six guys who go
Speaker 1: over the wall, um, they're you know, played football or
Speaker 1: you know, we're serious athletes in college who you know,
Speaker 1: might have not made it pro or whatever it is,
Speaker 1: and they have transformed them into pick crew members to
Speaker 1: perform these twelve second you use the word transformed, Yeah,
Speaker 1: how do you transform for going across the middle? Yeah?
Speaker 1: To changeing tires? Like I'm I'm believing it is a
Speaker 1: different Obviously, it's a different movement motor skill. But you
Speaker 1: know it, I'm not gonna say it's not a it's
Speaker 1: not a skill or technique because it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: I brother ain't changed the tire effort in his life.
Speaker 1: That's why I got triple a and I got all
Speaker 1: other things because if we are stuck, like I see
Speaker 1: all those guys that do it, and they do it
Speaker 1: at such a high level, they do it fast. It's
Speaker 1: it's amazing but also scary because they also have uh
Speaker 1: protective where all you know, protective gear, so that means
Speaker 1: they also can be injured and they can be lit
Speaker 1: on fire. Like there's a lot of different It ain't like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, don't put your hand on the don't put
Speaker 1: your hand on the on the heated oving glass like
Speaker 1: you can lose a finger, um doing some of that stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you absolutely can, I mean, and that I mean, going
Speaker 1: over the wall is a a very risky thing, not
Speaker 1: to mention you know, yes, you can hurt yourself on
Speaker 1: the car you're working on, but there's also thirty nine
Speaker 1: other cars going up and down pit road. There's cars
Speaker 1: part you know, coming in their pit box behind you,
Speaker 1: in front of you. There's a lot going on from
Speaker 1: from that. But yeah, these guys are are amazing. I
Speaker 1: mean to be able and perform that type of a
Speaker 1: pit stop at that amount of time. You know, you're
Speaker 1: talking changing four tires and filling a car up with
Speaker 1: gas in twelve seconds. Now you you go figure me
Speaker 1: that one, because it's it's honestly nuts. Are there any
Speaker 1: unwritten rule rules in Nascar? It depends on the person,
Speaker 1: you know. I feel like some people are more you know, um,
Speaker 1: get their feelings hurt more easily than others. So the person,
Speaker 1: you know, a person who gets their feelings hurt probably
Speaker 1: has a bigger rule book than someone who doesn't. But
Speaker 1: I feel like that's pretty you know, I mean, they're
Speaker 1: I feel like in football you watch people who get
Speaker 1: really some guys are easily agitated more than others. So
Speaker 1: I feel like that's similar to similar to other sports
Speaker 1: as well. Why why is it in Nascar when all
Speaker 1: else fails you just ramp somebody into the wall. Well
Speaker 1: typically that because typically typically if a guy gets crashed,
Speaker 1: like blatantly wrecked, you know, not not a miss dake like,
Speaker 1: hey I messed up, we crashed, Uh, there was something
Speaker 1: that was warranted for that. A lot of times give us,
Speaker 1: not including yourself, what give us a good example? Remember
Speaker 1: we you know, the closest I get to Nascar are
Speaker 1: in ramming somebody intentionally intentionally that's considered against so all
Speaker 1: that that's how you get a case road rage. So
Speaker 1: what what do you what do you mean? You give
Speaker 1: what you get? Do you get what you give? And
Speaker 1: in racing, like you know, if a guy runs you
Speaker 1: over or you know, rex you a week before, um,
Speaker 1: and you're and the shoe is on the other foot,
Speaker 1: uh down the road, I think you fully expect to
Speaker 1: get that back. And I think you have to, you know,
Speaker 1: I think you have to. You have to think about
Speaker 1: those those scenarios. But you know, especially when you're racing
Speaker 1: for a race win, and you know, if a guy
Speaker 1: just blatantly takes you out or or uh and then
Speaker 1: but not not just if a guy completely takes you out. Hey,
Speaker 1: if you're racing for a winn, a guy moves you
Speaker 1: out of the way, Um, he didn't wreck you, but
Speaker 1: he put the bumper two to pass you, I think
Speaker 1: he can expect that back. Um. And that's just hard racing.
Speaker 1: You get what you give. And most most all the
Speaker 1: guys in in racing are going to race you how
Speaker 1: you race them. And uh, I think that's one of
Speaker 1: those unwritten rules. But it you know, it's pretty well understood.
Speaker 1: You know, most guys are most guys are going to
Speaker 1: treat you how how you treat them for the most part,
Speaker 1: and that's you know, completely fine. How do you get
Speaker 1: into race mode? What? What gets you pumped up for
Speaker 1: a race? What motivates you? It's so hard to UM
Speaker 1: because you know, I'm trying to relate it like I
Speaker 1: feel like when you guys are getting dressed ready for
Speaker 1: a football game, Like you're in the locker room and
Speaker 1: next thing you do is you go out in the
Speaker 1: field and you're ready to go get after it. Whereas
Speaker 1: for us, you know, when I suit up and I'm
Speaker 1: getting ready to change and and you know, get ready
Speaker 1: to walk out to the car where we still have
Speaker 1: you know, driver introductions and you might still have to
Speaker 1: take pictures with sponsors UM or shake hands and be
Speaker 1: nice to people. Were in reality, I don't really want
Speaker 1: to talk to anyone UM, And I think that's very fair,
Speaker 1: you know, as from a competitor standpoint, But naspar is
Speaker 1: just a different dynamic and it makes it really hard
Speaker 1: to get in that mode. So for me, UM, I
Speaker 1: feel like I don't really lock in until I get
Speaker 1: in the car on on on race day. And the
Speaker 1: reason for that is is because I can't you you know,
Speaker 1: smile and and and you know say thanks to the
Speaker 1: people that that are making all this go. Um. But
Speaker 1: then when you get in the car and you put
Speaker 1: your home on on, I feel like that's really the
Speaker 1: time where you where you really lock in and um
Speaker 1: start dialing in those those small details that you've been
Speaker 1: looking at and and uh studying or or the practice
Speaker 1: the day before, what we changed and get ready to go.
Speaker 1: What's one of the biggest myths that's total b s
Speaker 1: as you know, as being a driver. I don't know
Speaker 1: about what the biggest myth is, but I feel like
Speaker 1: one of the biggest questions for non NASCAR fans is
Speaker 1: what do you have to do when you have to
Speaker 1: go to the bathroom? Feel like that is just the
Speaker 1: number one thing that everyone always wants to talk about
Speaker 1: about NASCAR, Right. I know you're wondering, don't lie. I
Speaker 1: wasn't gonna lie. Already asked one before, so I knew
Speaker 1: the answer. He basically told me he tinkles on himself.
Speaker 1: Do you well, I don't. I don't know who you
Speaker 1: talked to, but I don't know. I don't know about
Speaker 1: that one another word, try not to try to everything.
Speaker 1: We need to know everything. It is gonna be a
Speaker 1: you know, a tough gig the day that that a
Speaker 1: man has to tinkle on themselves. I have been very
Speaker 1: fortunate to not have to cross that bridge yet. But
Speaker 1: uh yeah, I mean it's I mean, you know this,
Speaker 1: like you're in a football game. You don't have to
Speaker 1: go to the bathroom. You have to, you said, don't
Speaker 1: You don't you know how much liquid I'm drink, right,
Speaker 1: But you're not sweating it. You're not sweating too. Yes,
Speaker 1: I've used the bathroom several times. Really, that is super
Speaker 1: surprising to have used conversation, you know. And I have
Speaker 1: played with a teammate that has gotten hit so hard
Speaker 1: that he yep, we call him King. His last night
Speaker 1: was King, and so he and he it wasn't as bad.
Speaker 1: Here's what happened. Here's what Okay, here's what happened. Chase.
Speaker 1: You ready, alright? So we're in two. I think we're
Speaker 1: playing against We're playing against New Orleans Saints and Jake
Speaker 1: Long's quarterback Jeff Kings are tight end who's now a
Speaker 1: really good scout for the Chicago Bears. He probably needs
Speaker 1: to be looking at a new quarterback. Anyway, we're going
Speaker 1: moving forward. So we ran up, we run around and
Speaker 1: he runs a deep angal which is a post a corner,
Speaker 1: and Jake threads the needle and throws it and I
Speaker 1: believe Roman Harper, who lives currently now in Charlotte, hit him.
Speaker 1: And we go back to the huddle and it was
Speaker 1: I mean, he got hit pretty hard. We go back
Speaker 1: to the huddle and everybody's kind of looking was like
Speaker 1: and Jake says, I'm sorry, and Jeff goes bro all right,
Speaker 1: he started I should almost and we're like, excuse me,
Speaker 1: but what did Jake do? We kept feeting because they
Speaker 1: didn't want to tackle him, so they're throwing the ball
Speaker 1: to to to to kink. He's catching it and I
Speaker 1: we end up getting a position ourselves, getting a field
Speaker 1: goal going into half, and then he changed his pants
Speaker 1: at halftime. It was pretty bad, So yeah, it does
Speaker 1: happen now myself. I went to use the bathroom several times.
Speaker 1: I peed on the sideline in the cup, in the
Speaker 1: Gatorade Cup, and then discarded. I just I'm blown away.
Speaker 1: I honestly excuse my ignorance, but I'll be honest. I
Speaker 1: honestly did not think that y'all even had together or
Speaker 1: even worried about going to bathroom. Like I just assumed, Hey,
Speaker 1: we don't like I know, like I know when I
Speaker 1: get in the car, like going to the bathroom is
Speaker 1: not an option, Like, don't even consider it. So I
Speaker 1: just assumed that it would be the same. I think
Speaker 1: it's about that time. Just take a little breather, come back.
Speaker 1: We have to pay some bills. Um, I have to
Speaker 1: use the bathroom. Good do it, Good do it. Let's
Speaker 1: getting down to do it. Good do it? Hey, Gerard,
Speaker 1: why didn't you get that T shirt? You mean this thing?
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I got it from cut to a podcast
Speaker 1: dot com where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to
Speaker 1: our guys at seven or four shot. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: can go on, buy you a T shirt, subscribe to
Speaker 1: us wherever you listen to podcasts. Our last statement that
Speaker 1: we like to close out on is called the Deep three.
Speaker 1: And basically what this is three questions that will ask
Speaker 1: you that basically goes behind your your suit, you being
Speaker 1: behind the car, behind your helmet, and just getting to
Speaker 1: know you at a deeper level. So Smithie, go ahead
Speaker 1: and give the first question. You ready, Hell, I guess okay,
Speaker 1: that sounds serious. It is you want them to say
Speaker 1: about William Clyde Elliott the second. Yeah, that's that's a
Speaker 1: good I mean, that's a good question. I feel like
Speaker 1: from from a racing perspective, I mean, everybody wants to
Speaker 1: be the best, right Like, that's a that's an easy answer.
Speaker 1: But I think for me, UM, probably probably two things.
Speaker 1: Uh One, certainly just want to be known as as
Speaker 1: a racer, Like I just want to be known as
Speaker 1: you know, when I show up at the racetrack, I'm
Speaker 1: there for for one job. You know, I'm not I'm
Speaker 1: not there to be the loudest guy in the room
Speaker 1: or there to to you know, make friends. I want
Speaker 1: to I want to do my job. But I think
Speaker 1: more so centered for right now. Two and this is
Speaker 1: a goal that I have currently, UM, that I would
Speaker 1: love to leave with is I want to get to
Speaker 1: the point where I personally and we as a team
Speaker 1: have a shot to win every week. And that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean you're going to have the most race wins, that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're going to have the most championships. But
Speaker 1: I want to be a guy who who can win
Speaker 1: at any race track on the schedule, big track, small track,
Speaker 1: road course. I just want to have I want to
Speaker 1: have that ability to be good at all of them. UM.
Speaker 1: And I want to be known as a guy that
Speaker 1: that can win anywhere at any time. And uh, that
Speaker 1: that's where I want to get. That's my that's my
Speaker 1: current vision that that's what I want to achieve. Um
Speaker 1: And that that's what I'd love to be known as,
Speaker 1: is a is a guy who can do that because
Speaker 1: there are guys who do that now, that that run
Speaker 1: good everywhere, um, that are threats to win win a
Speaker 1: race any any given time. UM. And I think that's
Speaker 1: a I think that's really in my eyes currently, I
Speaker 1: think that's that's a big deal. And really I think
Speaker 1: all all a racer can ask for is to have
Speaker 1: that ability. And that's what I want to be known as.
Speaker 1: What makes you so proud to carry on your dad's legacy? Um? Well,
Speaker 1: I think, for for one, you know, just carrying on
Speaker 1: the name, I guess in racing, you know, he um,
Speaker 1: he and his he and his family made it made
Speaker 1: it popular and and they made it successful. And I
Speaker 1: think that I think the family aspect of knowing, you know,
Speaker 1: my dad wasn't just on his own. Uh. You know,
Speaker 1: his brothers had a big time involvement in in his
Speaker 1: career and in their success. So I think just kind
Speaker 1: of knowing the family history to it and how involved
Speaker 1: their their family was and how that was the key
Speaker 1: to their success. UM. Although it's a different time and
Speaker 1: and you know they're not hands on making cars go fast.
Speaker 1: For me, I think knowing the family history certainly pushes
Speaker 1: me to want to, UM keep that family name or
Speaker 1: keep their name kind of around in racing because I
Speaker 1: think it belongs. I like that last one. One day
Speaker 1: you have your own child, son, her daughter, what do
Speaker 1: you want to leave them with? The man? That's tough.
Speaker 1: That's tough for for a guy who does not have kids, UM,
Speaker 1: because you hear often you know, I feel like I
Speaker 1: have friends who have had kids and and you know,
Speaker 1: you can see it from the outside and they'll tell
Speaker 1: you that their life has changed. UM. So that's a
Speaker 1: really tough question. And I honestly not to not to
Speaker 1: shrug it, offer to um, you know, ignore it. But
Speaker 1: I just don't know that I can answer that until
Speaker 1: you have one. That's a tough thing. I feel like
Speaker 1: a great answer, we'll chase UM. We really appreciate you
Speaker 1: taking your time and and and sitting down and amusing
Speaker 1: us and also just schooling us. And I think we
Speaker 1: we we taught you some things. Um, you know, living
Speaker 1: here in Charlotte, all the years that I've lived here,
Speaker 1: which is funny as I've lived there in nineteen years now. Um,
Speaker 1: there's so much about Charlotte and all the different sports
Speaker 1: that I'm still learning forty one years old. You're twenty
Speaker 1: four years old, and you have so much life to
Speaker 1: live and learn and embrace, and so am I. And
Speaker 1: the one word, Um, there's a few words though, but
Speaker 1: the one word that as we sat down and talked
Speaker 1: is yeah, I can hear your voice. I can hear
Speaker 1: how you talk about your family, how you talk about
Speaker 1: the way you grew up. Even we we didn't even
Speaker 1: talk about some of the things like how you had
Speaker 1: the pilots you have a pilot's license, and and word
Speaker 1: on the street is that you also got a runaway
Speaker 1: down there at dawson Ville, Georgia. So you get in
Speaker 1: and out. But the one word that I really, um
Speaker 1: that kind of stands out for me is grateful that
Speaker 1: you are so grateful for your pop, but you also
Speaker 1: relish the relationship that you have with your dad and
Speaker 1: you you know, UM, not a lot of people have that.
Speaker 1: I have that with my son, but I don't have
Speaker 1: it with my actual father, and you do and so um,
Speaker 1: I can hear your voice, man, So thank you for
Speaker 1: giving us just a little peek into that Elliott family
Speaker 1: of greatness. And I appreciate y'all have me, and certainly,
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, I learned learned some things on my end,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate y'all's willingness to learn more about racing
Speaker 1: and um and about me personally. And hope some time
Speaker 1: down the road our puzzle across and we can we
Speaker 1: can meet up and try to learn some more. All right, Well,
Speaker 1: appreciate it, Thank you, and listen, if you got us
Speaker 1: on our prick crew on your pick crew, it can't
Speaker 1: be a real race because I know, no screw something up.
Speaker 1: Are you gonna put it on me? Well, I definitely
Speaker 1: don't want y'all screw up because I'm I'm the one
Speaker 1: that's driving it. So it's gonna hurt. It's gonna hurt
Speaker 1: more me than it is you probably. Yeah, we're trying
Speaker 1: to hurt your point standing for sure. I don't want
Speaker 1: that either. Yeah, this is my son Peyton, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna go over let's go over you were a ball
Speaker 1: boy when I was with the Panthers. What was that
Speaker 1: experience like being on the sideline with me? Um? I mean,
Speaker 1: it's probably one of the coolest things I've done for sure. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna be I mean, being a kid who
Speaker 1: likes football, being on the sideline watching games, obviously that's exciting.
Speaker 1: But then also being close to you. UM, I didn't
Speaker 1: really get much much love down there, but being close
Speaker 1: to you is cool. Getting to watch you interact with
Speaker 1: your team and be on the field and stuff was awesome.
Speaker 1: Why didn't you get much love? Walk us through that?
Speaker 1: That might be something you have to answer. I don't know,
Speaker 1: but um, I mean, you're just go into game mode
Speaker 1: and it's just a different animal out there. What is
Speaker 1: game mode? No friends, no friend no family. So we
Speaker 1: said we're sitting on the sideline right before the game.
Speaker 1: We had a little routine, uh, walk us through every team. UM,
Speaker 1: I mean we were kind of just before the game
Speaker 1: in pregame, like when no jersey is all that stuff.
Speaker 1: We just wanted to get their eleven o'clock you got
Speaker 1: there probably eight clock. Get there at the eight o'clock am.
Speaker 1: Then I get there about ten thirty eleven o'clock and
Speaker 1: side noticed I used to actually go to church before
Speaker 1: the game. So I had a little gig where they
Speaker 1: would take me in the back where I go to
Speaker 1: church and I would tie before, so I would leave
Speaker 1: before the tithe and at the end, so I'll go
Speaker 1: to church, go to the game, and then with you know,
Speaker 1: we do pre game and I do my routine, come
Speaker 1: out of tunnel, angry Steve. We're sitting on the sideline,
Speaker 1: we do they do the national anthem, they're about to
Speaker 1: do the kickoff and we're sitting on the sideline, and
Speaker 1: right before we would always a little do a little
Speaker 1: fist pound. Walk us through what you experienced and what
Speaker 1: happened during the fist pound of me coming out of
Speaker 1: stadium doing the fist pound. Yes, they come out of
Speaker 1: the tunnel. Sometimes he could get an out. Sometimes he'd
Speaker 1: just be on the sideline and then right after he
Speaker 1: would go out for the captains for the coin toss,
Speaker 1: and then he'd come back and I was usually behind
Speaker 1: like the water cooler, so I go over where he
Speaker 1: was sitting on the bench and got dap him up.
Speaker 1: And it was kind of one of those like he
Speaker 1: would turn his head away and then dap me up,
Speaker 1: kind of like I don't want to do this, but
Speaker 1: you're my son, so I don't have a choice, and
Speaker 1: then dap me up. So I would look away and
Speaker 1: just like turn your head the other way and dap
Speaker 1: me up. And how did that make you feel? I mean,
Speaker 1: I just thought it was kind of funny. I mean
Speaker 1: I was never really like bothered by it, because I
Speaker 1: was like, I know he's in gay mode, but sometimes
Speaker 1: I was like, dang, I'm really just one of the babble.
Speaker 1: What did you experience as being a ball boy on
Speaker 1: the sideline and your dad is playing pretty prominent figurehead
Speaker 1: or interactive or being heavily involved in the game, and
Speaker 1: and you watching some of that stuff, Like what what
Speaker 1: did you learn about? What did you learn about me?
Speaker 1: That you're crazy? Okay, other than that I was crazy, um,
Speaker 1: I mean I learned that you're are invested in the games,
Speaker 1: Like even if you're not on the field, you're watching
Speaker 1: and you're coaching, and I could see that you knew
Speaker 1: a lot about the game apart from playing receiver, Like
Speaker 1: I've seen you talking to running backs, You've talked to dB,
Speaker 1: so you're just always trying to be there and kind
Speaker 1: of coach people and help people, and um, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're definitely like a leader on the field, and people
Speaker 1: would turn to you, like if it was a close
Speaker 1: game where we were down, people would turn to you
Speaker 1: for that answer, the solution, or the energy. So I
Speaker 1: think it was cool to see like how much of
Speaker 1: the impact you had on people on the field, but
Speaker 1: then also like everyone in the crowd was looking up
Speaker 1: to you, but also it was clear that your teammates
Speaker 1: looked up to you as well, and I thought that
Speaker 1: was cool. I appreciate that. One of the cool things.
Speaker 1: One of the biggest fears though, in that is in
Speaker 1: those big moments, having to be that answer. I always
Speaker 1: struggled with that because I didn't want to let my
Speaker 1: teammates now and the bigger part also having my boy
Speaker 1: on the sideline, I didn't want him to see that
Speaker 1: Daddy actually failed, that Dad was not that superhero that
Speaker 1: I thought it was. So that was always, um something
Speaker 1: that I tried to make sure didn't didn't happen. And
Speaker 1: you know, playing in Carolina, playing in Baltimore, what was
Speaker 1: really cool is I had the unique opportunity that both
Speaker 1: of my boys or my oldest two boys got to
Speaker 1: see Dad play. The only part that makes me tear
Speaker 1: up is my youngest never gets that experience that his
Speaker 1: other two high and that that that's that's the part
Speaker 1: that sucks even till this day. Um. Deuce says at times, Daddy,
Speaker 1: when we're going through the tunnel, because when we lived
Speaker 1: in Baltimore is the tunnel the mc henry tunnel week
Speaker 1: and he loved going through the tunnel and just experiencing
Speaker 1: going through a tunnel. Especially living in Charlotte there are
Speaker 1: no tunnels. You're going underwater and coming out and there's
Speaker 1: a different part of the city. He got to experience
Speaker 1: that and so Um, but he didn't get the full
Speaker 1: experience that the two older brothers. Guy. So that's that's
Speaker 1: pretty cool, um. And that's the one thing I think
Speaker 1: that really when I think go back and look at
Speaker 1: my football career, it does. That's the only part that
Speaker 1: saddens me is that he doesn't get to experience that. So,
Speaker 1: but that's it. So appreciate you listening to cut to it.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you uh sitting in on the father and selling conversation. Um.
Speaker 1: Not a lot of people get to experience that and
Speaker 1: I get to one of the greatest gifts I have
Speaker 1: gotten playing football, but also I've gotten now during this
Speaker 1: podcast cut to it is my son is also part
Speaker 1: of UM the media team. And so one of the
Speaker 1: things that I've grown up and become older is realizing
Speaker 1: you can own a business or you can work for
Speaker 1: a business, but owning a business you give the opportunity
Speaker 1: to change people's perspective. They're just allowing them to us
Speaker 1: and or decent. And I get to have a podcast
Speaker 1: that thankful for I heart radio UH black effect, ah
Speaker 1: Baltic creative Media UM to be able to do all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And then at the end of it, I
Speaker 1: get to talk to athletes, but my son is right
Speaker 1: next to me. Also get to work with some of
Speaker 1: my best friends as well. UM, but working with my
Speaker 1: son is pretty cool. And the coolest part is, UM,
Speaker 1: Joe Fussy is our booking agent, and you're our little
Speaker 1: John co host. But you're our little John and Joe
Speaker 1: are in charge of Peyton. I'm not his boss. I
Speaker 1: just get to be his dad. And that's the part
Speaker 1: where it keeps it clean and it keeps us fun.
Speaker 1: So I hope you enjoy listening to us. Continue to
Speaker 1: download and hear us and understand that. UM. Without you, uh,
Speaker 1: we don't really get to do these things that we do. UM.
Speaker 1: But if you be signed out to download us, we'll
Speaker 1: still keep doing what we're doing. Appreciate it, God bless.
Speaker 1: Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me
Speaker 1: is a production of Cut to It, LLC, Baltol Creative Media,
Speaker 1: The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcast
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows
Speaker 1: from Cut to It Executive producer Steve Smith, Senior, co
Speaker 1: host Gerard little John, talent and booking manager Joe Fusci,
Speaker 1: social media manager Peyton Smith from Balto Creative Media. Cut
Speaker 1: to It is produced by Brian Balta Chevitch and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, Production manager Sarah Pollock.
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: If you ain't heard about it, then we're about to
Speaker 1: let you know. It's all